Drake’s Mediocre Studio Album – VIEWS

Since the launch of VIEWS, I had been listening to the album on a daily basis, trying to rate and understand Drake’s 4th studio album. I actually stayed up to listen to OVO Sound Radio on Beats 1 iTunes to hear the whole interview prior to the full launch/stream of the album. The anticipation and delay of this album might be a reason why I have to label this LP as a “mediocre” album. The biggest issue I have with the album is that it is not consistent, and that could be due to the fact that this album was initially started a year and a half ago – dating back to September of 2015. As much as this wasn’t one of Drake’s best album to-date, I am grateful that his main producer Noah “40” Shebib co-produced the whole project (and produced 10 songs himself.) Here’s more on full credits from the album. The fact that the album is dedicated to Megan Flores, a young cancer patient is quite meaningful.

Notably, aside from the features with Rihanna, Future, PARTYNEXTDOOR, Pimp C. and dvsn, WizKid and Kyla, the production side of the studio album is truly amazing. The art of sampling work included Jamaican artists such as Popcaan, Beenie Man, Mavado. Mary J. Blidge on “Weston Road Flows”., DMX on “U With Me?”, and R&B boy band Ideal on “Faithful”.

If I were to rate Top 3 Drake album’s of all time, it would be:

Take Care

VIEWS

So Far Gone

My favourite tracks off VIEWS:

Weston Road Flows

Too Good ft. Rihanna

Keep the Family Close

One Dance ft Whizkid & Kyla

Views

Things I hoped to have seen on VIEWS:

Pop Style ft. Kanye West & Jay Z

Skepta feature/collaboration song

Summer Sixteen as a Bonus, and not Hotline Bling

It’s a good album, it wasn’t as good as I would like to be. However, the respect I have for Drake, and the whole OVO team that has put the project together, from marketing (VIEWS billboards, fun album cover) to final execution – it was a job well done. The 4th studio album from the Canadian rapper that put Toronto on the map, and gave the name the 6 to our city should have the credit, but this album just didn’t meet my expectations. I had to filter a lot of tracks off the album that I didn’t really enjoy (Grammys), vice putting the whole album on repeat. I mean, if you really wanted to, you could have break out the trackless one by one and put it in his previous albums (the pop dancehall Jamaican-inspired songs into Started from the Bottom, heavy-hitters into If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late and the rest to Take Care, as there was not consistency in terms of a consistent theme (which is understandable, as hip-hop artists nowadays try to fit in a “no specific genre” category, but Drake isn’t Kanye and wouldn’t be able to pull something off like The Life of Pablo.)

Here’s a good remix of One Dance that I found through Justin, which is fire.

Follow me

Instagram

Where am I?

About

I push underground content to mainstream media. I bring brands from East Asia to North America, and represent Canadian brands from coast to coast. I'm not afraid to speak my mind, and tell your story. I capture the moments worth living for, and I do it often.